I wore the new Apple Watch for a week

The new Apple Watch Nike+ isn't designed to be a beauty tool - let's just get that straight.

What it is designed to be is a tool for those who like to exercise, runners in particular. As such it comes with all of the unique features of the Apple Watch Series 2 plus the new Nike+ Run Club app and both Apple and Nike claim it will motivate you to run like nothing else.

Whether that's true or not we really can't say. We can confirm, however, that this particular Apple watch does provide guidance from coaches and athletes and coaching plans that adapt to your schedule and progress, which is clever and a whole lot of fun. Well, for me anyway.

The Apple Watch Nike+ looks slick and feels it too.

You see, I'm a long-term runner. I've been running since I was a kid and in my adult years I've knocked out countless races, a dozen or so half marathons and four full marathons. In recent years though that's changed somewhat. Two children and a demanding full-time job have made sticking with any kind of serious running regime tricky, meaning that I've fallen into something of a pattern. I rack up a week or two of decent training and then I fall off the wagon and, might I add, in a fairly spectacular fashion.

I'm one of those classic all-or-nothing types unfortunately. You know what I'm saying. I'm either clocking up 80 kilometres a week or sitting on the couch eating 27 doughnuts. Given that, I was pretty excited when the folk at Nike and Apple approached me and asked if I might like to give their new collaborative project a spin. I figured this might be the motivation I needed to kick myself into gear once and for all.

Wearing it was meant to motivate. Instead, it caused me to shift gear. Image: Instagram/@amandabisk

For the first week or so everything was ace. I loved using the Nike+ Run Club app without having to carry my iPhone with me and the watch's extra features were excellent fun. It was cool to see the distance I was covering and the speed I was travelling at, plus my route at a glance. But over a week or so my enthusiasm waned. I had a couple of big days at work. One of my sons fell ill. Running didn't happen. Dougnuts did.

But you know what? I kept wearing my Apple Watch Nike + and a bizarre thing started to take place. I stopped paying attention to how many Ks I'd run (or not as the case may be) and started paying attention to my heart rate instead. I regularly checked how many steps I had clocked up throughout the day and ensured that I stood for a minute every time my watch beeped and reminded me to do so (yep, it does that).

Turns out being healthy means more than traditional sweat sessions. Image: Instagram/@stephb.trainer

I became more aware of my body in general and installed a breathing app so that I would take a moment to meditate at regular intervals throughout the day. And weirdly, while my running regime has yet to improve dramatically (my work is still intense and my kids are here to stay) I'm feeling relatively fit and strong. I've also started drinking water (I installed an app to remind me to do that too) and my skin has improved - so much so that I'm getting compliments daily. More importantly, I'm more calm and, even better still, nicer to myself.

So while my Apple Watch Nike+ experience hasn't quite achieved what I had hoped, my new relaxed self doesn't mind too much. Because I know, that when the time comes, and my schedule allows it, I will run as hard and as fast and as long as my lungs will allow. And when I finish, my cool new watch will let me know how awesome I am and I might very well agree.